Will a quality bubble balancer and an **** person get a good balance job, or do I just need to find a used spin balancer?

 

With today's wide tires, deep offset wheels, low sidewalls, aluminum wheels, stiff suspensions, light weight cars, you really need the computer spin balance, and a good one at that. Only balance that has satisfied me is the Hunter unit. Most others will leave some shake/shimmy seems like. Hate to pay the money to get this but it's worth it on long wearing tires.

 

Thanks! Any other thoughts? I have to think he is right, but................

 

i have no idea what the names of the balancers are but the only one i have got my tire balanced on and liked was the one at sullivan tire where they put a load on the tire as they balance it so that you get a true balance

 

I second the vote for spin ballencer.. I also second that of the ones I have used hunter eng. seems to work the best. There is a newer mechine out there that also alpies load while ballencing and will test for run out and tell you if you have a bad wheel and or tire..

For the low cost that a shop will charge to ballence a tire, the knowing that it will be right outwieghs any other means of going about it

 

The cost is only part of the equation. If I can find a spin balancer reasonably priced, I may buy one.... I hate shops. They don't touch my car...

 

thats why you take off your rims at home and bring them to the shop to get balanced.... like i did

 

If you are trying to balance like a stock truck tire or Tercell tire then something like that might work. But, for my own tires with aftermarket wheels, I want them static balanced so take them to Tire Kingdom. They have a fancy gizmo machine. They punch in all that stuff and that I do NOT want weights on the outside lip then the machine does the rest I could be wrong but I don't think a bubble balancer can balance as well as the computerized spin machine

 

If you do a lot of balancing, or think you will, Snap On makes a relatively small one that you actually spin up by hand...its all computer controlled and has calculations for inside weight mounting only, which keeps the ugly weights on the inside of the wheel...I don't know the model #, but a local shop uses it and my tires always come out perfect...You could also check ebay or some classified ads for shops selling theirs...

You could offset the cost by charging your friends half of what the big guys charge...You'd be a hero!!! Then, of course, you should think about a tire mounting machine....mmmmm
--Alan